Sick Day
by Caskett1960
Summary: Castle spends the day caring for Kate when she falls ill. Set after they got together, but before this season. One shot.


**DISCLAIMERS: 'Castle' is the property of Andrew W. Marlowe and ABC Studios Productions. No copyright infringement is intended. The story is the property of the author and may not be archived without her permission.**

 **SUMMARY: Castle spends the day caring for Kate when she falls ill. Set after they got together, but before this season. One shot.**

 **A/N #1: This is for Kelly, who is hopefully recovering from a kidney infection. Get well soon, girl.**

 **SICK DAY**

"My back hurts, Castle," Kate complained, rolling over in bed so that her back was to him.

"Let me see what I can do to fix that situation," Castle's fingers were strong and firm on her back, easing under the t-shirt that she was wearing.

"Lower," she instructed, sighing when his fingers worked their way down her lower back.

"Maybe you should make a doctor's appointment," he suggested, kneading a spot just to the right of her tailbone. "You haven't been feeling great for a few days now."

"I don't have time to make a doctor's appointment," she argued. "Do you have any idea how many cases I'm working on right now?"

"Yes, I do," his lips moved to her neck, causing her to squirm slightly. "Kate, you're not a one-man homicide squad. Delegate."

"I don't have time to 'delegate,'" she rolled over so that she was now nestled in his arms, her arms wrapping around his waist, tugging him closer.

"You should make time," he teased, gasping when she removed one hand from around him and reached down to squeeze him. "Or, you could do other things."

"Yeah, I could do that," she smiled as his lips came down to hers.

But the next afternoon, Kate found herself seriously rethinking Castle's recommendation from the night before about making a doctor's appointment. She felt absolutely hideous. Her back was hurting and now she felt feverish on top of everything else.

When Castle arrived at the precinct early that afternoon, Esposito grabbed him the instant that he stepped off of the elevator. "Bro, what's going on with your girlfriend?" He pointed across the bullpen at Beckett, who had her head down on her desk. "It's a good thing that Gates is out of the office today."

"She wasn't feeling good last night. I told her to call her doctor, but you know how Beckett can be."

"Well, get her out of here and to the doctor. Ryan and I have things under control here."

"Okay. Thanks, 'Sito." He walked over to Kate's desk and knelt down, brushing her hair off of her forehead. She stirred and opened her eyes sleepily. "I'm taking you to urgent care and I don't want to hear any arguments. It's obvious that you're sick. You never fall asleep at your desk."

Kate didn't say anything. She took the hand that Castle was offering her and slowly got to her feet. She felt Castle's hand on her back, which allowed her to get her bearings. "Let's go," she said as he grabbed her bag before guiding her toward the elevator.

Castle helped her into the passenger seat of the car before getting behind the wheel and driving toward a nearby urgent care center. After waiting in the waiting room for almost an hour, Kate was finally called back so that a nurse could get her information. Much to her chagrin, Castle insisted on accompanying her. After taking Kate's vital signs, the nurse then began assessing why she was there. "What seems to be the problem?"

"My back has been hurting for a couple of days—" 

"A couple of days?" Castle interjected, quieting when Kate gave him her Look. "Sorry. I just didn't know it had been a couple of days. I knew that you hadn't been feeling well—"

"Today, I started feeling feverish and I was getting chills," she managed to cut Castle off at the pass.

"Well, you do have a slight fever. Have you been having any problems with urination?"

"I have to go constantly and when I do manage to go, it really hurts."

"Okay. I'm going to get you to give me a sample and then you'll see the doctor. Please wait here."

"You didn't tell me that it hurt when you peed," Castle told her, which earned him another glare from Kate.

"Ms. Beckett, I need for you to give me a sample," the nurse returned, holding out a plastic specimen cup. "After you do that, you can return to the waiting room."

Kate peed in the cup and returned to the waiting room where Castle was sitting, leafing through a magazine. He put the magazine down when she sat beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. He slipped his arm around her and held her to him, pressing his lips to her forehead. She rested like that for about half an hour before being called back once again. "Stay here," she told Castle. "I think I can manage to walk back there. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay. But if you need me, I'll be there."

"I know."

The nurse showed Kate to a room and told her that the doctor would be in shortly. Kate sat in an office chair and leaned her head back against the wall, instantly dozing off once again. She jolted awake when she heard a light rap on the closed door. The man who entered the room reminded Kate of the doctor George Clooney had played on the old TV show 'ER.' "Ms. Beckett, I'm Dr. Morales," he shook her hand before sitting in the other chair. "I'm sorry that you're feeling under the weather today. I have the results of your urinalysis and it seems that you have a kidney infection."

"I thought so. My mom used to get them a lot."

"The good news is most kidney infections respond very well to antibiotics. I am giving you a prescription for Amoxicillin. It's important that you get this filled so that you can get started on it as soon as possible. You should start feeling better in a day or two. Please take the antibiotics until they are all gone, even if you start to feel better. For the fever, you can take some Motrin or Advil."

"So, that's it?"

"Yes, so you can tell your young man out in the waiting room that you don't have anything life threatening," the doctor smiled as Kate chuckled.

"He'll be relieved to hear that."

***CCC***

Castle stopped at a pharmacy on the way home to drop off Kate's prescription before taking her home to the loft. Due to the fever, she was still woozy, so he helped her change into a pair of pajamas before helping her into bed. "I'm going to get you some water and some Advil," he kissed her forehead before leaving the room. He returned moments later with a bottle of water and two Advils, which Kate quickly swallowed down. "Get some rest. I'm going to pick your prescription up in about an hour."

"Okay," she mumbled sleepily.

While waiting for the appointed time to pick up Kate's prescription, Castle did some research on Google about kidney infections. When he returned from the pharmacy just over an hour later, he not only had Kate's prescription, but he had picked up several bottles of cranberry juice. He walked into the bedroom with her antibiotics and just stood in the doorway staring at her. He couldn't get over how beautiful she was. He couldn't get over how much strength was contained in that beautiful package. Finally, he walked over and climbed onto the bed, feeling her forehead, smiling when he noticed that she now seemed much cooler. She opened her eyes and gave him a sleepy smile. "I brought you your antibiotic," he helped her to sit up and handed her a capsule. "I also bought some cranberry juice. It's supposed to be helpful when you have kidney infections."

"Castle, I hate that stuff," she made a face.

"But they have some cool combinations of flavors. Grape, mango, cherry," his face lit up excitedly.

"Let me guess. You bought one of every flavor the pharmacy had."

"Well, I figure there's bound to be one flavor that you like."

"You're so sweet," she caressed his jaw, drawing him closer to share a soft, sweet kiss.

"I'm going to let you get some more rest. If you're hungry later, I'll order something in."

"Okay."

Castle was on the sofa a couple of hours later with his laptop on his knees when he heard footsteps. He turned and smiled when he saw Kate emerging from the bedroom, wearing one of his button down shirts. "I sweated through my t-shirt," she explained, sitting beside him and curling her legs under her.

"Are you hungry?"

"Starving," she admitted.

"What are you in the mood for? Pizza? Chinese? Thai?"

"Chinese sounds great, but first," she removed his laptop from his knees and set it on the table in front of them, "thank you for taking such good care of me today."

"Always."

"Before you call in dinner, I want to cuddle first."

Castle's grin was huge as Kate crawled into his lap and laced her arms around his neck. He let his fingers caress her bare legs as she nestled into his neck. "I loved taking care of you today. I will always love taking care of you."

"This was the best sick day ever, Castle," she sat up, smiling at him before her lips came down on his, telling him in ways that her words couldn't just how much he meant to her.

 **A/N #2: Kelly, for the record, I highly recommend the mango cranberry juice. It's awesome!**

 **A/N #3: Yes, I was a huge fan of 'ER.'**

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